¡Bienvenidos a Sabor'a Street!

As my love of food trucks continues to blossom, I want to share with you how Sabor’a Street has contributed to my relationship with the four-wheeled miracle kitchens, my taste buds, and the streets of D.C.

It was a sunny Thursday in the district and I was waiting for my food truck partner in crime, Rachael, to get out of class. Sabor’a street had tweeted about how the line for lunch was down the block and that they weren’t going to be around for much longer. Panicked, I grabbed my coat and began to power walk towards their designated location, telling Rachael that I’d get in line so we didn’t risk the items selling out by the time she was done with class. By the time I reached the truck, the line had calmed down but people were anxiously awaiting their Latin-inspired lunches. I approached the woman working the cash register and introduced myself as my twitter handle, LOLKatz41, as I had tweeted the week before begging for the truck to grace the GW campus with its presence. Then I began to look over the menu.

While seemingly small, the Sabor’a Street menu is chock full of flavor, variety and excitement. The two options are the angus beef hamburger and the Arepas- “cornmeal cakes with choice of pulled beef brisket, pulled chicken or chili-glazed tofu.” The woman in the truck recommended me the chicken arepas, as she said they were her favorite. All of the dishes are served with fried yuccas and tostones, and a decadent, creamy and refreshing lime aioli and salsa verde.

Rachael and I have a ritual when we eat from food trucks of each getting something different and sharing. When she finally arrived after what seemed like hours, I told her I knew exactly what we were going to get- chicken arepas, a burger and hot, sugary, crunchy fried churros with home made dulce de leche dipping sauce.

As I approached the woman to take my order, she broke news so terrible you’d think I was going to cry. They were out. of. churros. How could such a tragedy occur?! “Tweet at us and we’ll save you an order next time,” the woman replied. My mouth was already watering for the fried cinnamon sugar coated dough. How was I supposed to wait for next time?!?!

Despite our tragic dessert mishap, lunch was spectacular. The minute I bit into the chicken arepas I began to “ooh” and “ahh” in amazement. The crispy cornmeal cake held the delicate flavors of lime and cilantro and spicy chicken so well. It was a fiesta in my mouth. The chicken was tender and juicy and the slaw on top was crisp and refreshing. The burger was equally as flavorful, had a meaty texture and spicy seasoning. The lime aioli was the perfect compliment to both, and the perfect dipping sauce for the well-seasoned, well-fried yuccas and plantains.

As our lunch came to an end, I was beyond satisfied, but still craved something sweet, per usual. Luckily, Cap Mac was closing up and offered Rachael and me our own caramelized banana Nutella rice puddings… for free! My sweet tooth was satisfied sans churros.

The story continues the following week when Sabor’a Street tweeted about being a few blocks away from campus. I had been in an ongoing twitter conversation with them all day and was just dying to make my way for the long awaited churros. I gave myself a nice studying break and power walked six blocks to the truck. As I approached and re-introduced myself, the man working in the “kitchen” exclaimed, “I have to get a record of this.” Apparently, my longing for churros was known between all of the workers and tweeters. I was so thrilled to finally be getting my churro fix I didn’t care who recorded me doing what. The owners were gracious enough to give me the churros- free of charge- as they knew how big of a fan I was, and how much I enjoy promoting them on Twitter. As promised, I let the chef film me taking my first bite. I dipped the piping hot churro (they are small, about the size of your thumb, so eating more than one is acceptable) into the creamy, caramely dulce de leche sauce and sunk my teeth into it. I was in cinnamon sugar heaven. Crunchy on the outside but cakey and chewy on the inside; generously coated in the perfect ratio of cinnamon to sugar; and the dulce de leche was the icing on the cake (no pun intended?). Just like the refreshing lime aioli, the dulce sauce dressed the churro so beautifully without overpowering it. I couldn’t wait to get the rest of the churros back to the library to share with Rachael (you know, the kind of sharing where its one for me, one for her; two for me, one for her? Just kidding...)

So now that you have read my short story on my amazing experience with Sabor’a Street, I hope all you D.C. locals will venture over to wherever Sabor'a Street may be. Just writing this entry was difficult to do without my mouth watering (seriously, I had to stop a few times because I got so hungry thinking about the food), and I am anxiously awaiting the truck’s next appearance at GW. Although, as proven, I am willing to travel for these delectable Latin delicacies- willing to travel all the way to Sabor'a Street, America, wherever that may be!

Photo Credit: Sabor'a Street & Google Images

Ethiopian Meets Dessert

If you haven’t noticed, I love to eat. I love to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, desserts; I love to eat off food trucks, I love to eat lavish meals, and I LOVE to eat new and exciting foods. It is both a blessing and a burden that I live in such a culinarily diverse city (blessing on my taste buds and overall happiness, burden on my waste line, wallet, free time). The other day I ventured to U Street, an area of D.C. known for its nightlife, restaurants and Ethiopian population.

Ethiopian cuisine is similar to Indian food in that there are many flavors and spices that coat different meats and vegetables. It is different in general flavor and, oh yeah, you eat with your hands. Imagine eating shredded beef or Sloppy Joes, or creamed spinach with your hands. Not too easy, eh? Well this is what Ethiopian food is all about. Its about combining and handling small quantities of various tastes and textures into one successful, triumphant bite. You’re probably thinking, ”you have to use some form of utensil, right?” Right. The key to Ethiopian food is the sponge-like crepe that rests underneath and soaks up every flavor of the sauces that are ever so beautifully coating the proper meats and vegetables. By itself, this “SpongeBob bread” (as my friend’s dad likes to call it) is pretty tasteless. It has the texture of a pancake that has been cut in half (crosswise, so it is thinner) and pumped air bubbles into. I really don’t know how else to describe it, but these holes are perfect for absorbing the flavors of the sauces. And the malleability of the pancake allows the food to sit in it without it ripping. My method was to rip a small portion of the pancake off and dip it into a dish, use it as a shovel and scoop the fillings into my mouth. This was definitely one of the most (if not THE most) unique eating experiences I have witnessed but it was fun, different and- although challenging- satisfying, like using chop sticks for the first time.

Rachael and her SpongeBob bread

If you were to ask me to go into detail about what the food tasted like, I would tell you no. I am telling you no. If you really want to know about the palette pleasing sensations of Ethiopian food, go out and try it yourself. I just wanted you to understand the concept so I can go into my next point. My interpretation of Ethiopian food: dessert version. Yeah, you read that right, dessert. I used real crepes instead of sponge-like crepes, and bananas, orange slices, Nutella, Greek yogurt, cinnamon sugar and macerated berries in place of the spicy saucy meats and vegetables. I made enough crepes to cover my entire kitchen table (granted, its not that large) and have extras for dipping. This was a fun and innovative way to eat crepes, perfect for a party, girls’ night in, or rainy day activity.

proof of me actually making the crepes

beautiful Nutella

now tell me that's not Food Porn worthy?!?!

Here is a general dessert crepe recipe:

4 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/3 cups milk

2 table spoons melted and cooled butter

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, butter, flour, sugar and salt until smooth. Heat a medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Grease pan with butter or oil. Using a small ladle, spoon about 1/3 cup batter into hot pan, tilting the pan so that the bottom surface is evenly coated. Cook over medium heat, 1 to 2 minutes and flip for a few seconds until crepe is cooked through and golden. Serve immediately.

Here is how I made the berries (you can use just plain fresh berries too):

½ bag frozen mixed berries

½ cup water

¼ cup sugar

the juice and zest of one orange

Heat all ingredients over medium heat in a saucepan until the liquid has reduced by half and mixture is hot. Use a slotted spoon to serve over crepe, thus eliminating some of the liquid.

finished product

we made a friend :)

Pi Truck: A Love Story

So I lied. I mentioned about six food trucks in DC that I had already sampled. That was last Thursday. As of today, a mere five days later, I have sampled five more food trucks. I know that sounds a bit over indulgent, but trust me, they are beyond worth it. For somewhere between $6 and $15, you are able to get a full, gourmet meal, in about 10 minutes or less! How can you beat that?!

I start my review off with the truck that has become the dearest to my heart... and my stomach: Pi Truck. At first glance, this four-wheeled green monster looks a little dorky; the truck wears the Pi symbol proudly on all four sides. But when you take a closer look, you'll see that beneath the mathematic stamp lays a beautiful interpretation of deep. dish. pizza. Mmmmm...

The battle between Chicago-style deep dish and New York-style thin crust has been ongoing since before I can remember. People tend to get rather snobby when it comes to taking ownership and pride in one's hometown culinary name tag. Do you go deep dish and eat your slice with a fork and a knife? Or do you go thin crust, fold the slice in half, and shove it into your mouth like a hot dog? Personally, I like to combine the two methods by using a fork and a knife on thin crust pizza; I consider myself to be a pizza snob and tend to over-enjoy this simple cheesy delight as often as I can.

To be honest, I don't think I've ever had deep dish pizza before I experienced Pi Truck, but boy, did it turn me into a believer. The food truck craze has slowly made its way to the GW campus and I will be the first to tell you how lucky we are to have it. First you should probably know some background information on my Thursday before I so luckily encountered the truck of Pi.

Like I mentioned earlier, Thursdays are the hot days for food trucks to roll on over to Foggy Bottom. I had finished class for the day and made plans with my friend, Rachael, to get lunch from Red Hook Lobster Truck. I brought the lobster and shrimp rolls back to my apartment for the two of us to share, and lunch was amazing (more to come on Red Hook, this is about Pi Truck remember!). As we sat contemplating which food truck we would next explore, we checked Food Truck Fiesta for other trucks around campus. "Pi Truck's at GW still," Rachael exclaimed. "Wanna get dinner?" I asked. It was a done deal. We left my apartment in a rush with the determination to catch the pizza mobile before it left for the weekend (the trucks tend to stay until 2 pm and it was already 3:30). As we walked towards the designated location, we saw an empty space. This didn't look good. Where could it be?

Then, out of no where, like a peak from heaven above a cloudy sky, the Pi Truck rolled past us and continued down 22nd street. I began to run.

I managed to catch up with the truck as it stopped to look for a parking spot outside of our library. I frantically approached the window and the driver rolled it down. I asked how much longer they would be around and the friendly man said to wait until they parked and that I would be the first in line for a hot, gooey, deep dish pizza pie. Is your mouth watering yet? Because mine is.

Rachael caught up to me and managed to take a picture of my epic attempt to flag down a food truck (see left, Hi Cap Mac!). We debated for a while over which pie to get- they all seemed so unbelievably tasty! We went with the favorite of the driver- the Western Addition- and shared a small piece before returning to my apartment and refrigerating it for dinner. The Western Addition contains (along with the usual mozzarella and homemade tomato sauce) spinach, creamy feta and ricotta cheeses, hearty mushrooms, onions and garlic, all enclosed by the best cornmeal crust I have ever tasted. This crust is just meant for deep dish pizza. It is thick yet delicate, and chewy with just the right crunch. It hugs, rather than overpowers the fillings, like the perfect spoon to sop up the flavors of tomato, cheese and veggies. I couldn't wait to finish this pie for dinner.

About four hours, $12 and six slices of sweet, cheesy, crunchy goodness later, Rachael and I were happy campers. No, the $12 was not a typo- we did, in fact, get an entire deep dish pizza pie for twelve dollars. No tax, no tip, no delivery charge- for one of the best pizzas I have ever sunk my teeth into. Since the moment I took my last bite I have been anxious to return to my beloved truck of Pi. I am determined to become a loyal customer and maybe have a pie named after me one day. Until then, one can only dream. I love you, Pi Truck!!